You can no longer accuse EOTTM of padding its fighters’ records or giving its athletes easy fights for development with matchups like this. Luis Santana and Dzmitry Asanau will face each other on October 8 in Quebec City, and honestly, this one could be a war.
In a 100% EOTTM matchup like this, between two undefeated prospects, I quickly found myself wondering: why?
But I quickly realized that the Quebec-based stable has reached this stage in its development.
And this isn’t the first time they’ve done it. There was a time when Steve Claggett faced Yves Ulysse Jr. and Mathieu Germain.
Erik Bazinyan was also supposed to face Steven Butler three times, but we all know what ultimately happened.
Photo: Vitor Munhoz – Luis Santana (right)
All major promotions operate the same way, whether it’s Top Rank, Matchroom, or any other major promoter. None of them will turn down a major fight simply because it pits two of their own fighters against each other.
It gets people talking here because, in Quebec, we’re a little bit chauvinistic. We want all our boxers to become champions without ever having to face one another, while still expecting them to conquer the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, that’s not how boxing works.
And we’ve already been deprived of some excellent fights in Quebec for various reasons. I’m thinking in particular of Jean Pascal vs. Adonis Stevenson.
Now that Camille Estephan has the opportunity to put on a fight of this magnitude, it was only natural that he would seize the opportunity.
Photo: Vitor Munhoz – Dzmitry Asanau vs. Roger Gutiérrez
A way to avoid congestion
When I took the time to think about it, it became obvious to me.
With all the congestion at 168 lbs., which is a wonderful problem to have, by the way, they probably want to separate the good from the elite right away and figure out who actually has a chance of capturing a world title at 168 lbs.
With the situation at super middleweight, where Christian Mbilli is the king of the WBC, Osleys Iglesias sits at the top of the IBF rankings, and Wilkens Mathieu is right behind them, even though it’s a favorable situation, it must give their promoter some headaches.
And that’s without even mentioning Moreno Fendero, who is also climbing the rankings in the division.
Three of these boxers are now managed by Marc Ramsay, and sooner or later, they will have to face each other.
Osleys Iglesias has already mentioned the possibility of facing Mbilli, provided the circumstances are right.
So their promoter doesn’t have headaches because they’re all good. The problem is that you can’t simply create new titles for the occasion.
This matchup between Asanau and Santana will determine the better prospect and help avoid the traffic jam that is undeniably forming at the top of Mount Everest.
Photo: Vitor Munhoz – Luis Santana
Where things get complicated
One point I’ll concede to those who criticize this type of matchup is the close connection between the teams.
When we say there’s no room for friendships in boxing, that’s true in one sense, but false in another.
It’s not a team sport like hockey, where you literally have teammates playing on the same team.
Your team is made up of your coaches, but once you step into the ring, you’re on your own against your opponent.
However, we too often underestimate the amount of teamwork that goes into a training camp inside the gym.
Sparring partners and the gym community form a real team around the boxer, supporting them and pushing them to surpass themselves.
So it would be one thing to match up a boxer like Albert Ramirez, who comes from outside the gym, against someone like Mehmet Unal, for example.
Photo: Vitor Munhoz – Dzmitry Asanau (right)
But in this particular situation, Asanau trains with Samuel Décarie-Drolet, while Santana trains with Giuseppe Moffa.
The two know each other well, and when I briefly brought it up with Asanau’s trainer, he told me that he also knew Luis well, which could make the matchup somewhat unsettling. He still admitted that, as we say in good old French, “ça fait partie de la game” — it’s simply part of the game.
At the end of the day, boxing remains an unforgiving sport, and these two athletes understand that. Sometimes you have to accept less glamorous fights if it means your career will move forward.
